WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will see some of the cutting-edge techniques being used to create parts for the engines of the Space Launch System (SLS) during a visit to the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, Feb. 22. SLS is America's next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicle -- the most powerful rocket ever built.

Bolden will tour the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing Rapid Prototyping Facility in Building 4707 at Marshall at 12:30 p.m. CST (1:30 p.m. EST). He will join John Vickers, manager of NASA's National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, and others for a look at the equipment used in selective laser melting, which is similar to 3-D printing. Laser melting is enabling the production of complex, strong metal parts without welding, while reducing manufacturing time and costs.

News media interested in attending the tour should contact Jennifer Stanfield in Marshall's Public and Employee Communications Office at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21.

Journalists must report to the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center at Gate 9, Interstate 565 interchange at Rideout Road/Research Park Boulevard, no later than noon Friday. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate. News media representatives will need two photo identifications and proof of car insurance.